Education 3-13

International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education

ISSN: 0300-4279 (Print) 1475-7575 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rett20

Assessing English vocabulary and enhancing

young English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
learners’ motivation through games, songs, and
stories

Mu-hsuan Chou

To cite this article: Mu-hsuan Chou (2014) Assessing English vocabulary and enhancing young
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ motivation through games, songs, and stories,
Education 3-13, 42:3, 284-297, DOI: 10.1080/03004279.2012.680899

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2012.680899

Published online: 24 May 2012.

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Education 3–13, 2014
Vol. 42, No. 3, 284–297, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2012.680899

Assessing English vocabulary and enhancing young English as a Foreign

Language (EFL) learners’ motivation through games, songs, and stories
Mu-hsuan Chou*

Department of Foreign Language Instruction, Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages, 900

Mintsu 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan
(Received 17 October 2011; final version received 3 March 2012)

In Taiwan, English was only officially taught at the secondary and tertiary levels
before 2001. Since 2001, English courses have been formally incorporated into the
curriculum in primary schools. Research on teaching and assessing English in
primary school education is relatively new compared with research on other levels
of education in Taiwan. The present study investigated the degree to which
games, songs, and stories helped increase primary school pupils’ English
vocabulary size and encouraged learning in an intensive English course. It also
explored how different test techniques influenced pupils’ performance on a
vocabulary test. Seventy-two primary school pupils participated in the study. The
results showed that games, songs, and stories had a positive effect on learning and
increasing the pupils’ English vocabulary. In the vocabulary test, the pupils in
higher grades outperformed those in lower grades and performed differently in
terms of test techniques.
Keywords: vocabulary; game; song; story; motivation; EFL

1. Introduction
For many decades, English as a foreign language has been a required course for
students in Taiwan from secondary school (starting from age 13) up until the first
year of university. Since 2001, English courses have been incorporated into the
primary school (ages 7–12) curriculum in Taiwan for the purposes of (1) developing
an international perspective in learning, (2) taking maximum advantage of students’
critical period for language learning, (3) optimising the timing of the implementation
of the new curriculum, and (4) following the Taiwanese government’s initiative on
linking education with globalisation and fulfilling parents’ expectations (Chern 2003;
Ministry of Education 1998). However, Pinter (2006) and Paul (2003) note that
unlike many second language (L2) learners, young English as a Foreign Language
(EFL) children1 whose native languages have little in common with English have
limited opportunities to practice the language outside school and have no immediate
need or strong motivation to use or learn English, thereby suggesting a potential lack
of positive motivation for EFL learners. Indeed, Chern (2003, 427) notes that
‘Taiwanese secondary school students’ motivation for learning English has been
either to fulfil the course requirements or to pass the entrance examinations to the

*Email: mhchou@gmail.com

Ó 2012 ASPE
 Education 3–13 285

next level of schooling’. This so-called ‘teach-to-test’ practice (Su 2000) has a
negative impact on students’ learning processes because the short-term motivation of
learning fades soon after completion of the course. In addition, Kirkup (2006) notes
that although conventional formal tests have proved useful in providing information
at school and class levels, they severely limit the potential benefits to the learners
themselves. Thus, using various in-class activities to motivate students to learn
English at an early age and maintain their motivation throughout their academic
careers is crucial. Unlike research into secondary and higher education in Taiwan,
there has thus far been little research into primary-level English teaching and
learning; in specific, there have been very few studies conducted on the degree to
which student-centred tasks, such as games, songs, and stories, motivate primary
school pupils to learn English. It is hoped that the findings of the present vocabulary-
based study of 8- to 11-year-olds can provide teachers and researchers with new
perspectives on using all three activities to enhance young learners’ motivation in
their EFL classrooms.

2. Teaching young EFL learners

When teaching young EFL learners and adults, their cognitive and emotional
development as well as influences from the first language(s) (L1) must be taken into
account. McKay (2006) emphasises the fact that children do not find it easy to use
language to talk about language or to understand grammar and discourse before the
age of 8. She, therefore, suggests that the cognitive demands of in-class tasks should
be commensurate with children’s age-related abilities. Owing to the short attention
span of young learners, teaching them should be sufficiently versatile to allow all
pupils to become involved.
Auditory and visual stimuli are important inputs for children to model
pronunciation and body language and to join conversations with teachers and other
pupils (Pinter 2006). Asher (1977; see Brown 2007) noted that children’s listening is
accompanied by physical responses, meaning that it is easier for them to learn
languages via physical movement. McKay (2006) added that they love physical
activities, which they play for fun and fantasy, and that they actually tire more easily
from sitting than from running. The teaching method Asher developed is known as
Total Physical Response (TPR). Brown (2007) recommends that TPR can be used as
a type of classroom activity in communicative and interactive classrooms because it
provides both auditory input and physical activity. The fact that children live, to some
degree, in a world of fantasy and make-believe (as emphasised by Bourke (2006) and
McKay (2006)) means that a primary-level language teaching syllabus should contain
at least the following elements: (1) topics of interest to children, (2) stories, (3) games
and fun activities, (4) songs, chants and rhymes and (5) pair-work or group-work
tasks. In the context of Taiwan, English has often been taught with a strong focus on
learning about language forms (Chern 2003; Murphy and Liu 1998) by using methods
such as Grammar-Translation. Thus, it is important to investigate the degree to which
different types of activities, such as games or songs, when integrated into TPR
activities can benefit primary school children’s learning of English.
The relationship between play and learning is closely related where cognitive
processes are involved (Cook 2000; Wood and Attfield 1996). ‘Games’, according to
Cook (2000, 127), refer to ‘intricate, rule-governed, and culturally variable
competitive activities’, which can provide insights into language play. Wood and
286 M.-h. Chou

Attfield (1996) stated that play can be seen as a means whereby children try to
impose some structure or organisation onto a task, such as exploration, practice, or
repetition, and that it influences children’s attitudes towards learning. However,
learning and playing in the language classroom has been heavily debated in terms of
their appropriateness or seriousness in the formal and compulsory schooling context
(Cook 2000; Paul 2003; Wood and Attfield 1996). Indeed, Cook (2000, 183)
specifically notes that play and games are ‘often severely marginalised, and tend to be
used for some ephemeral pedagogic purpose – not as a means of learning’. Using
games or other forms of play without a clear objective related to language learning is
likely to result in ineffective learning, in the sense that the pupils will be unable to
demonstrate what they have learned in class through games. McKay (2006) suggests
that language-rich activities or games involving doing, thinking and moving can be
used to provide children with opportunities to listen and guess from the context, to
risk using the target language, and to engage in interactions. Finally, vocabulary
teaching is crucial and necessary to target language learning in Taiwan, particularly
for young learners and beginners. Therefore, in the present study, the design of
games and use of songs and storybooks are closely related to the theme of teaching
and the objective of increasing young pupils’ English vocabulary size.

3. Assessing young language learners

One of the purposes of assessment is to discover how much students have learned
during and/or at the end of a course. Early research on assessment of young
language learners involved the assessment of language impairment, the assessment of
young learners with English as an additional/second language, and the assessment of
foreign languages in primary schools (Blondin et al. 1998; Low et al. 1993; McKay,
Hudson, and Sapuppo 1994). More recently, research in this area has focused on the
range and quality of teacher assessment and the assessment process in formative and
summative assessment (Alderson and Banerjee 2001; Gardner and Rea-Dickins
2001; Rea-Dickins and Gardner 2000). Findings from Rea-Dickins and Gardner
suggest that it is not always appropriate to use informal classroom tests as research
tools; formal tests may need to be used to examine the language targets that young
learners may be expected to achieve. Although games, songs and stories were used to
facilitate pupils’ learning and memorisation of English vocabulary in the present
study, it was necessary to adopt formal tests to examine how much the pupils had
learned by the end of the course.
Assessing young language learners is different from testing adults. Hughes (2003)
and McKay (2006) highlight several particular demands and recommendations
regarding testing young learners, such as brief and varied tasks, pictures, and
attractive typography. In language testing, vocabulary can be assessed either in
reading comprehension or in discrete-point testing (McKay 2006); however, tasks
should not be beyond the children’s L1 understanding (ibid.; Hughes 2003). In the
present study, the vocabulary assessed was embedded in brief reading texts and
pictures with four types of test techniques. The present study also explores the degree
to which test techniques influence young EFL learners’ performance in the
vocabulary test. Accordingly, the three research questions (RQs) are as follows:

RQ1: Did the pupils think that using games, songs, and stories helped motivate
them to learn English? If yes, to what degree?
 Education 3–13 287

RQ2: Did the games help the pupils increase English vocabulary?
RQ3: Did the test techniques influence the pupils’ performance across their grade
levels in the vocabulary test? If yes, what aspects and which levels were
involved?

4. Research methods
4.1. Research participants
The research was undertaken with a group of 72 Grade 2 (age 8) to Grade 5 (age 11)
pupils and four teachers from a primary school in Southern Taiwan. The pupils took
an intensive English course that was designed to increase their range of vocabulary,
to learn marker (or model) sentences, and to increase their knowledge of other
cultures by introducing five famous international festivals, either in English or in two
languages (i.e. English and Chinese). The pupils were grouped into four classes
according to their grade level, with 20 pupils (27.8%) in Grade 2, 16 in Grade 3
(22.2%), 17 (23.6%) in Grade 4, and 19 (26.4%) in Grade 5. The five international
festivals taught in class were ‘Easter Holiday’, ‘Thanksgiving’, ‘Carnival Festival’,
‘Halloween’ and ‘Christmas’. Six words related to each festival were taught and two
marker sentences were also introduced to teach the pupils how to use the vocabulary
in sentences/discourse. In other words, every pupil should have learned 30 words and
10 marker sentences by the end of the course. Each lesson on festivals lasted
100 min, with a 10-min break in the middle.

4.2. The design of the course

The teaching of each festival followed the same procedure: (1) storytelling about
festivals, including related vocabulary, (2) a formal presentation by the teacher on
vocabulary and marker sentences, (3) three different games to practice vocabulary
and (4) songs. The underlying rationale for using the three games in the present study
was that considering the test-oriented learning environment in Taiwan, learner-
centred teaching approaches and activities should be encouraged to facilitate and to
motivate vocabulary learning. Three types of games were selected that forced players
to focus on small amounts of vocabulary and that were suitable for the young
participants. English-language children’s storybooks and songs about the five
festivals were used. The pupils listened to the songs, sang together, and moved their
bodies in time with the rhythm. The three different games used – ‘Monopoly’,
‘Twister’ and ‘Crossword’ – were designed by the four teachers; the rules were as
follows:

(1) ‘Monopoly’ – Instead of buying buildings, as in the original ‘Monopoly’

game, pictures of the vocabulary items to be learned were placed on the
spaces of the board. The pupils rolled the dice and moved to the appropriate
space. After arriving at it, they were requested to read or spell the word for
the item in the picture and then to put the word into the relevant marker
sentence and read it aloud. Three pupils played at a time, and the winner,
who was the first around the board, received a bonus mark.
(2) ‘Twister’ – For the ‘Twister’ game, two mats with scrambled English letters
replaced the colours on the mat in the original game. The pupils were divided
into two competing groups. The teacher read a word and both groups needed
288 M.-h. Chou

to spell the word by placing their hands or feet on the correct letters in the
correct sequence. Again, the winning team received a bonus mark.
(3) ‘Crossword’ – In this game, the teacher gave the pupils worksheets with
pictures of the vocabulary items, along with ‘Across’ and ‘Down’ boxes for
them to fill in. Pupils were grouped into pairs, and the pair who finished the
‘Crossword’ first won and received a bonus mark.

4.3. Data collection

Mixed methods were adopted in the present study. Classroom observation and semi-
structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data, while quantitative
data were obtained from the pupils’ pre-test and post-test scores and a self-
assessment questionnaire. The reason for employing different methods was to obtain
a fuller and more complete picture of the research situation and to offset inherent
weaknesses or biases in a particular method (Denscombe 2007). In the present study,
for example, observation enabled the researcher to understand the contexts of
teaching and learning, to see things that might otherwise be missed in the classroom,
or and to discover things that the young pupils might not freely talk about in
situations like interviews or tests. Hence, while the pupils were playing the games, the
researcher observed the classes and took field notes. Following the suggestions of
Spradley (1980; see Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2011), field notes covered eight
areas: space (physical setting), actors (people), activities (events), objects (artefacts
and physical things), acts (action), time (sequence of acts), goals and feelings.
Before instruction, the pupils took a pre-test on the vocabulary they were about
to learn. There were 25 items on the test, which fell under the four test techniques:
‘True/False’ (six items) and ‘Matching’ (six items) for vocabulary recognition and
‘Anagram with Picture’ (seven items) and ‘Gap-filling with Pictures’ (six items) for
spelling and writing down the words. The total score for the test was 100. These types
of test techniques, which are commonly used with primary-level learners on the
Cambridge Young Learners English Tests (YLE) and are recommended by Hughes
(2003), were, with their focus on recalling and using vocabulary, considered
appropriate for testing the young EFL learners in the present study. Vocabulary
learning was measured using four types of test techniques. Examples of the test items
in each section were provided to the pupils.
At the end of the course, the pupils answered a self-assessment questionnaire,
which asked to what degree they thought games, stories and songs had helped them
learn new vocabulary or festivals and to what degree the physical activities had
motivated them in class (Appendix 1). Self-assessment was regarded as a practical
means of encouraging sophistication in learner awareness and helping learners gain
confidence, evaluate their learning process and encourage learner autonomy in the
language classroom (Alderson and Banerjee 2001; Hughes 2003). McKay (2006) and
Jones (2001) both suggest that self-assessment should be promoted in the classroom
to give children an opportunity to become engaged in second or foreign language
learning. For example, the European Language Portfolio is designed to motivate
children by promoting awareness of their progress through self-assessment. The
results suggest that young learners (as defined in this paper) are able to reflect and
self-assess if the questions are kept simple. In the present study, the self-assessment
questionnaire was originally designed and administered in Chinese, which was the L1
of the pupils, and was later (for reporting purposes) translated into English, with the
 Education 3–13 289

translation checked by another teacher who knew both Chinese and English.
Additionally, the teachers in the four grades read the questions aloud one after
another to reduce problems stemming from lower literacy skills of any of the pupils.
However, the major concern about self-assessment results from learners’ failure to
provide accurate judgments of their achievement and proficiency (Alderson and
Banerjee 2001). In other words, the reliability and validity of self-assessment are not
always high due to learners’ own interpretations of, say, their learning outcomes. To
circumvent the potential problem of low reliability in self-assessment questionnaires,
it is often recommended that one should replace them, or supplement them, with
achievement tests, standardised proficiency tests, and other external measures
(Blanche 1990; Ross 1998; Shameem 1998). Thus, in the present study, the
achievement tests (i.e. a pre-test and a post-test) were used to support and cross-
check the data from the self-assessment questionnaire. One-third of the pupils were
also interviewed face-to-face based on their self-assessment answers. Finally, after
completing the course, the pupils took a post-test, where the items were identical to
those in the pre-test. However, the pupils did not know that they would take the
post-test until it was administered.

4.4. Data analysis

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 17 was the software used to
analyse the quantitative data, with descriptive statistics for describing data from the
self-assessment questionnaire and the pupils’ various test scores. With respect to the
qualitative data, they were coded, categorised and reported according to their similar
and/or different features.

5. Results
5.1. Field notes on pupil participation
Field notes on the pupils’ participation in the games, songs and stories were taken
during the classroom observations (Table 1). The three activities were performed in
the classroom where the pupils had their lessons, with desks and chairs moved aside
when the pupils played games or engaged in other physical activities. The teachers
first used the storybooks with pictures to provide the pupils with background on the
festivals and related vocabulary. Next, they taught the vocabulary and marker
sentences; games for vocabulary practice followed. To maintain the pupils’ learning
motivation, both the pupils and the teachers sang festival-related songs and moved in
time with the rhythm. The songs, the stories and the artefacts used in the three games
were the same across the four groups. With each group, the teachers required the
pupils to sit around them while listening to the festival stories, but the pupils (in all
four groups) were initially hesitant because they were not used to listening to stories
in English in class. However, with the teachers’ encouragement, they became active
and willing to participate. The time allocation for each activity was 15 min
maximum, which was in line with McKay (2006), who indicates that the attention
span of young learners is approximately 10 to 15 min.
According to my field notes, the ways in which pupils responded to games were
similar across the four grades, in the sense that they preferred the physical activity
involved in ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Twister’ to sitting and working out the ‘Crossword’
with their partners. This observation was particularly obvious in the lower grades
290 M.-h. Chou

Table 1. Extracts from the field notes of using games, songs and stories in class.

Activities G2 G3 G4 G5
Objects 1. Games (A) Monopoly: a board for each group; 3 pupils play at a time;
competition.
(B) Twister: one mat for each group; two groups played at the same
time; 1 pupil on the mat at a time; competition.
(C) Crossword: worksheets for each pair; competition.
2. Songs Festival-related songs/Pupils stood up to sing
3. Stories Storybooks and puppets/Pupils sat around the teacher
Acts 1. Games Monopoly and Twister: the pupils gathered around in front of the
board and/or mats.
Crossword: the pupils sat at their desks.
2. Songs Pupils sang the songs and moved with rhythms. Body language was
emphasised in singing.
3. Stories The teachers read the storybooks with intonations, different voices,
gestures, and the aid of puppets. The pupils listened and
responded.
Time 1. Games Approximately 30 min for the three games.
2. Songs Approximately 10 to 15 min for singing and dancing (repetition
included).
3. Stories 10 min (bilingual) 10 min 7–8 min (mainly 6 min (mainly
(bilingual) English) English)
Goals 1. Games The pupils were able to memorise and spell the English vocabulary
taught in class, and they appeared motivated to learn English.
2. Songs The pupils understood more about the festivals and the vocabulary
3. Stories related to them. The pupils felt motivated to learn English.
Feelings 1. Games The pupils were more active while The pupils liked the three types of
playing ‘Monopoly’ than games, particularly
‘Twister’ and ‘Crossword’. ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Twister’
They needed more instruction where they could interact with
and time to respond to the two their classmates and move
spelling games. their bodies.
2. Songs The pupils loved singing songs The pupils liked singing the
and moving their bodies with songs. However, they were
rhythm in class. They liked to more likely to be distracted by
imitate the teachers’ gestures their peers and turned to play
and body language when with them.
singing the songs.
3. Stories The pupils loved to listen to the The pupils loved the stories, but
stories. They liked the teachers liked to express their personal
to use the puppets and opinions in L1 and L2. They
dramatic voices for different had more interactions with the
characters. teachers.

(i.e. Grades 2 and 3), where the children needed more instruction and examples to
familiarise themselves with the task. Moreover, the ways in which the pupils reacted
to the songs and the stories varied by grade. For singing songs, the pupils in the two
lower grades tended to follow and imitate the body language of the teachers, while
the pupils in the two higher grades (i.e. Grades 4 and 5) were easily distracted by
their classmates. Additionally, when listening to stories, the pupils in the two lower
grades were inclined to sit quietly and concentrate on the storyline. Because their
 Education 3–13 291

English abilities were still developing, translation into L1 was needed for the
storytelling. However, pupils in the two higher grades had more oral interaction in
both L1 and L2 with the teachers. They either expressed opinions in the middle of
the story or interrupted their teachers by asking story-related questions in both
Chinese and English. In short, in the present study, games, songs and stories
appeared to be effective ways of encouraging young EFL learners to interact with the
teacher. In her research on using learning support assistants to cope with young L1
learners’ emotions, Burton (2008) discovered that by playing games, children were
able to develop turn-taking skills in oral discussion. The findings in both this and
Burton’s study imply that games, songs and stories based on well-defined
pedagogical objectives can be very beneficial in developing young learners’
communication abilities.

5.2. Self-assessment of the learning situation

The majority of the pupils had a positive attitude towards using games to learn
English. All pupils agreed that playing games related to the teaching topics (i.e.
festivals) not only helped them memorise the English vocabulary items but also
increased their vocabulary size (Q1 and Q2, Table 2). In particular, more than 85%
of the pupils agreed that playing games motivated them and made it easier to learn
English (Q4 and Q5). For the two questions, there was only a very slight difference in
the pupils’ perceptions across the four grade levels on whether using games increased
their motivation in English classes and made it easier for them to learn English. Four
pupils from the higher grades (Grades 4 and 5) and three from the lower grades
(Grades 2 and 3) (i.e. 7 out of 24 interviewees) stated that the English course they
had previously taken during term time was rather boring and not interesting at all;
teachers simply gave lecture-type presentations, and games were rarely used in class.
For the majority of the participants, learning through games in a relaxing class
environment appears to have been very stimulating. In addition, more than 80% of
the pupils agreed that they memorised vocabulary more quickly through the games
(Q3). Five pupils from the lower grades stated that their English was not good.
Although their vocabulary size still increased considerably by playing the games,
they said that they needed more time to digest and practice the new vocabulary so
that they could respond to the new words more quickly in the games.

Table 2. Results of using games to learn English vocabulary.

Helped Increased Memorized Motivated Made it

memorize vocabulary vocabulary to learn easier to
vocabulary size (Q2) quicker (Q3) English (Q4) learn English
(Q1) (%) (%) (%) (%) (Q5) (%)
Games A DA A DA A DA A DA A DA
G2 100 0 100 0 80 20 100 0 85 15
G3 100 0 100 0 81.3 18.7 93.8 6.2 87.5 12.5
G4 100 0 100 0 88.2 11.8 94.1 5.9 88.2 11.8
G5 100 0 100 0 100 0 94.7 5.3 100 0

Note: ‘A’ means ‘Agree’ and ‘DA’ means ‘Disagree’.

292 M.-h. Chou

Apart from using games in the English classes, songs and stories were also
favoured by the children. More than 80% of the pupils agreed that singing English
songs and listening to stories related to the festivals helped them understand the
English vocabulary and the teaching content, though the stories (with an approval
rate of 93.8%) seem to have had a higher impact (Q6, Q7, Q11 and Q12; Tables 3
and 4). Eight pupils reported that the storyline and pictures in the storybooks
provided them with more visual stimuli to comprehend the new words they were
learning than did the English songs. Another three pupils from Grades 2 and 3
specifically said that they loved to watch the gestures and body language of the
teachers while they were telling the stories. Although stories were considered a more
effective approach to learning English vocabulary than were songs, the extent of
pupil preference between the two approaches was very close. In addition, more
pupils from the lower grades (Grades 2 and 3) agreed that singing songs was more
motivating in terms of learning English than was listening to stories. However, more
pupils from the higher grades (Grades 4 and 5) agreed that listening to stories was
more motivating. Again, the degree of preference was not marked across the four
grade levels. Nevertheless, more pupils (87.5%) in both the lower and higher grades
agreed that they learned more quickly and more easily by singing English songs and
moving with the rhythm; fewer said they learned better by listening to stories (Q8
and Q13). Five pupils from the lower grades and four from the higher grades said

Table 3. Results of using songs to learn English vocabulary.

Helped Made it
Helped understand Learned Motivated easier to
understand teaching English to learn learn Eng-
vocabulary content (Q7) quicker (Q8) English (Q9) lish (Q10)
(Q6) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
Songs A DA A DA A DA A DA A DA
G2 80 20 85 15 90 10 100 0 85 15
G3 87.5 12.5 87.5 12.5 87.5 12.5 93.8 6.2 93.8 6.2
G4 82.4 17.6 94.1 5.9 88.2 11.8 88.2 11.8 88.2 11.8
G5 89.5 10.5 94.7 5.3 100 0 89.5 10.5 100 0

Note: ‘A’ means ‘Agree’ and ‘DA’ means ‘Disagree’.

Table 4. Results of using stories to learn English vocabulary.

Helped
Helped understand Learned Motivated Made it ea-
understand teaching English to learn sier to learn
vocabulary content quicker English English
(Q11) (%) (Q12) (%) (Q13) (%) (Q14) (%) (Q15) (%)
Stories A DA A DA A DA A DA A DA
G2 100 0 95 5 75 25 95 5 80 20
G3 100 0 93.8 6.2 81.3 18.7 93.8 6.2 81.3 18.7
G4 100 0 94.1 5.9 88.2 11.8 94.1 5.9 88.2 11.8
G5 100 0 94.7 5.3 84.2 15.8 94.7 5.3 100 0

Note: ‘A’ means ‘Agree’ and ‘DA’ means ‘Disagree’.

 Education 3–13 293

that they enjoyed moving with rhythm and gesture and that this made the class more
interactive and fun. Additionally, more pupils in the lower grades (93.8%) than in
the higher grades (88.2%) agreed that they felt motivated to learn English by singing
songs (Q9), while listening to festival stories was considered motivating for more
than 93.8% of the pupils in all four grades (Q14). Finally, more than 80% of the
pupils from each of the four grades agreed that using songs and stories made it easier
for them to learn English (Q10 and Q15).

5.3. Comparison of the test results for the English vocabulary

The pupils performed differently across the four groups on the vocabulary tests.
Generally speaking, the average percentage of correct items declined as the grades
decreased in the pre-test (Table 5). For example, among the four groups of pupils,
the Grade 5 pupils outperformed the other three groups. In terms of the test
techniques, ‘Anagram with Picture’ was considered the hardest because the average
percentage of correct items was the lowest of all in the pre-test. The pupils found it
hard to spell the scrambled letters of the vocabulary words before learning them.
‘Matching’ and ‘Gap-filling with Pictures’ were performed moderately well across
the four groups of pupils in the pre-test. Pupils in Grades 4 and 5 performed better at
‘True/False’ items than did those in the lower grades.
In the post-test, the average percentages of correct items were higher across the
four groups. Similar to the pre-test, Grade 5 pupils again performed better than the
three lower grades on the four test techniques in the post-test. In particular, all pupils
received higher scores on the ‘True/False’ and ‘Matching’ than on the ‘Anagram
with Picture’ and ‘Gap-filling with Pictures’. This result implied that test items that
required spelling and comprehension of the reading texts (i.e. ‘Anagram with Picture’
and ‘Gap-filling with Pictures’) demanded more cognitive processing with respect to
memorising vocabulary, understanding the texts, and integrating the words into
texts. Cohen (1994, 74) emphasised that age plays an important role in test
performance: ‘older respondents may also be more methodical in their deliberations,
more abstract in their thinking, and more adept at solving problems’ (in tests).
Despite the fact that the present findings show that test techniques had a noticeable
influence on the pupils’ performance, a close relationship was discernable between
test performance, pupils’ cognitive processing in memorisation and integration of
knowledge, choice of test technique and age on the vocabulary test. For instance, the

Table 5. Average percentage of correct items of the four test techniques.

Test techniques
(average Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5
percentage
of correct Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest Pretest Posttest
items) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
True/false 43.8 93.8 43.8 88.1 56.3 85 68.8 93.8
Matching 34.4 84.4 31.3 93.8 32.1 100 34.4 100
Anagram with 15.6 46.8 25 59.4 21.4 78.8 28.1 96.9
picture
Gap-filling with 35.7 65.6 37.5 65.6 35.7 75 31.25 78.1
pictures
294 M.-h. Chou

pupils in the higher grades outperformed those in the lower grades in both the pre-
test and post-test when using certain test techniques.

6. Discussion
Teaching EFL to primary school pupils in Taiwan is part of a new government
policy that has been implemented in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, little research
into teaching young learners in EFL contexts has been undertaken, and much more
is needed. The problem is that English education at the secondary and tertiary levels
in Taiwan has been primarily test-oriented (Chern 2003; Chen and Tsai 2012), which
has had a negative impact on teaching and learning. The present study took a closer
look at the outcomes of using student-centred activities to facilitate primary school
pupils’ learning of English vocabulary and at the motivational benefits of enhancing
positive learner motivation.
Based on the data from the field notes and the self-assessment questionnaire,
almost all of the pupils loved to learn English through games, songs and stories in
class. They agreed that playing language-related games, singing theme-based songs,
and listening to stories helped them memorise English vocabulary more efficiently.
They found learning through games, songs and stories fun and motivating, meaning
that they showed an active attitude towards participating in class. This finding
supports Paul’s (2003) viewpoint that when playing games, children are more likely
to take risks and make mistakes without feelings of frustration about not learning. In
his research on designing a topic-based syllabus for young ESL learners (6- to 8-year-
olds) in Brunei, Bourke (2006) also discovered that language learning is effective
when children are actively involved in the learning process. Cohen and Dörnyei
(2002) also noted that motivation can be deliberately promoted by employing certain
methods to positively influence learners’ motivation. In the present study, active
learning involving interaction with the teachers was found for the pupils in Grades 4
and 5, who tended to express and discuss their opinions regarding the storyline in
both L1 and L2 with their teachers (Table 1). This finding agrees with and supports
McKay’s (2006, 7) comment that children between 11 and 13 years of age are
beginning to develop the ability to ‘manipulate thoughts’ and to ‘interpret and
understand abstract social concepts’.
It is known that test techniques can be used to test different types of language
abilities and performance. In the present study, it was discovered that the pupils’
performance on a vocabulary test could be influenced by the test techniques used and
not just by their grade levels. Because maturation of cognitive processes in terms of
memorising English vocabulary progresses with age, the findings suggested a
potentially close relationship among the test techniques used in the test, the
maturation of young learners’ cognitive abilities and the test outcomes. According to
the test results, the pupils at a higher grade level were more capable of memorising
and spelling out new words in the test items for ‘Anagram with Picture’ and ‘Gap-
filling with Pictures’ than were those at a lower grade level. In addition, McKay
(2006) notes that young learners’ skills in learning a foreign language are, in part,
predictable from their L1 literacy level, and according to Puckett and Black (2000),
children between the ages of 9 and 11 tend to expand their L1 vocabulary size faster
than those between the ages of 7 to 9. This previous finding reinforces the present
findings that pupils at higher grade levels were better at memorising English
vocabulary. In general, the pupils in the four groups had improved markedly by the
 Education 3–13 295

end of the course, which implies that using games, songs and stories not only
stimulated the primary school pupils’ motivation and their willingness to express
themselves and interact with the teachers in class but also helped them memorise the
new words quickly.

7. Conclusion
The purpose of the present study was to investigate how far games, songs and
stories helped and motivated 72 Taiwanese EFL primary school pupils between the
ages of 8 and 11 to learn English vocabulary. The pupils’ self-reflection regarding
the physical activities and stories was explored through a self-assessment
questionnaire, and their learning outcomes were examined through more formal
tests.
Research into play and games has shown a common phenomenon of regarding
them as subsidiary in language teaching, as they are normally used simply as physical
activities to enhance learner motivation in class rather than as primary teaching tools
(Cook 2000; Paul 2003; Wood and Attfield 1996). However, the present study makes
it clear that games, songs and stories can be beneficial to young pupils’ learning of
English vocabulary when those activities are integrated with clear teaching and
learning objectives. By using storytelling and songs about international festivals, the
young pupils simultaneously increased their knowledge of global cultures and
expanded their vocabulary size. The social-psychological view of motivation argues
that having favourable attitudes towards the target language culture may well
increase motivations to learn a second language (Cohen and Dörnyei 2002). In this
case, such positive motivation served as a starting point for the Taiwanese primary
pupils to learn English, instead of simply learning for the purposes of passing their
English courses.
English language teaching in primary schools in Taiwan is still new and going
through a series of changes; therefore, constant monitoring is necessary. The present
study was carried out by using games, songs and stories to teach English to primary
school pupils in an EFL context, emphasising the value of these activities on the
development of cognitive processing, vocabulary memorisation and reciprocal
interactions between teachers and young pupils. For instance, although the three
activities were all enjoyed by a large majority of the pupils, it appears that
vocabulary activities involving spelling and reading comprehension were more
appropriate for the children in higher grades (namely Grades 4 and 5). However, the
children in the lower grades (Grades 2 and 3) preferred to learn through a large
quantity of visual and auditory input. Knowing the different language abilities of
different grade levels helps teachers not only design appropriate language-
related activities for young children but also provides a clearer picture of pupils’
learning outcomes. To conclude, ‘teaching to the test’ inevitably exists in a culture
that values success of a person based on his or her performance on academic
subjects, but using approaches such as learner-centred games potentially reinforces
learners’ classroom motivation and generally develops positive attitudes towards
learning English.

Note
1. Young learners are by definition between the ages of approximately five and twelve
(Hughes 2003; McKay 2006).
296 M.-h. Chou

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Appendix 1
Self-assessment Questionnaire of Games, Songs, and Stories
Please read the following statements and tick  whether you agree or disagree with them.

Self-assessment Items Disagree Agree

Games 1. Playing games related to the teaching topics (i.e. ¤ ¤
festivals) helped me memorize the English vocabulary.
2. Playing games increased my vocabulary size. ¤ ¤
3. I memorized vocabulary quicker by playing games. ¤ ¤
4. Playing games in English class motivated me to learn ¤ ¤
English.
5. Playing games made it easier for me to learn English. ¤ ¤

Songs & 6. Singing English songs related to the teaching topics (i.e. ¤ ¤
Rhythm festivals) helped me understand the English vocabulary.
7. Singing English songs related to the teaching topics (i.e. ¤ ¤
festivals) helped me understand the teaching content.
8. I learned quicker by singing English songs and moving ¤ ¤
with rhythms.
9. Singing English songs and moving with rhythms ¤ ¤
motivated me to learn English.
10. Singing English songs and moving with rhythms made ¤ ¤
it easier for me to learn English.
Stories 11. Listening to English stories related to the teaching ¤ ¤
topics (i.e. festivals) helped me understand the English
vocabulary.
12. Listening to English festival stories helped understand ¤ ¤
the teaching content.
13. I learned quicker by listening to English stories. ¤ ¤
14. Listening to English festival stories motivated me to ¤ ¤
learn English.
15. Listening to English stories made it easier for me to ¤ ¤
learn English.